Monday, August 10, 2009

Blue Skies

Yesterday the sun came out. I don't think we had seen blue skies in about a week; we came home from Valdez/Anchorage to smoke and haze. Thankfully at the end of the week it changed to drizzle and fog (everyone jokes that's because the fair came to town, but we've all been praying for rain). So all of a sudden at about 1 pm yesterday the sun started streaming into our house and I looked out and saw bright blue with fluffy white clouds, and we decided it would be really fun to go to the fair. And it was! We packed up the big stroller and sweatshirts just in case and (after Jason finding amazing parking) we paid our money and went inside. It's always fun just to people watch if nothing more. All the kids come out in full regalia; there are certain sections of the fair grounds where we realized we didn't fit in because we forgot to wear black... one guy that walked by with his family says to his wife, "Hey, a goth-a-thon!" There's a million babies and all their strollers and invariably the obvious first-timers with the look on their faces that says "Ok there are a lot of people here, but this is IT?" They are slightly confused as to what draws the large crowd. But we locals know that it is the food, the smells, the people, the hope that you get to see somebody behaving bizarrely, and the chance to see your children do something out of the ordinary.

Funnel cake IS good!

Mia was very wide-eyed and wanted to look at all the kids. Stuff she only sees on Elmo was life-sized! After stopping briefly at a father-daughter country music act we went on to fried zucchini and the petting farm. We didn't shell out for hay for the animals; we weren't sure she would appreciate feeding them, but as she was standing there at the sheep pen looking so cute, people kept sharing their hay with her so she could feed the animals. (I asked Jason if this was a foreshadowing of a girl who never has to pay for a drink...) Though at one point she had a fistful of hay in one hand and a chunk of fried zucchini in the other and she mixed up her hands and tried to put some hay in her mouth. Fortunately she realized it was too pokey to eat.

After more good food we decided to try her on the carousel which she loved and when it was over she said "Moh?" and wanted to pet all the horses on the way out.

Then we stumbled across the pony ride and thought it would be too much fun to pass up!

Finally after some icecream we found a booth where Mia netted not only a free pink balloon, but a free book and a free frisbee. Score! As we were packing the car up to leave, Mia was standing by herself and we heard: "Peas?" We looked over to see a little hand stretched towards the sky as the pink balloon floated into infinity. Jason told me not to cry and so I quickly collected myself and we made a big deal out of saying bye-bye to the balloon which seemed to satisfy me (I mean Mia). I'm not really sure who had the most fun at the fair... but I think we'll be going back next year. Two and half hours of sensory overload was just about perfect and we can keep the memories forever.